Evening primrose, Oenothera biennis, has grown in popularity of late for the high amounts of essential fatty acid  GLA, gamma-linolenic acid, also known as omega-6 found in it's seeds. GLA is converted by our bodies into prostaglandins, these are the hormones our bodies use in many body functions from controlling cell growth, regulate kidney function, regulating clotting times of our blood and regulating inflammation.

Thus evening primrose oil is being studied as a treatment for auto immune disorders such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. It also shows efficacy as a treatment for symptoms of PMS and menopause, treating ADHD, and relieving painful neuropathy experienced by people with diabetes. If you are buying evening primrose oil look for cold pressed oils.

Long before the discovery of high concentrations of GLA, herbalists have known of the healing properties of this plant. Utilizing the leaves stems, roots, and blossoms of evening primrose, herbalists have  traditionally made a tea which was then used to treat skin rashes, including persistence excema. Also a mild sedative, pain reliever and general tonic.

The entire plant is edible, the leaves are best eaten early in the spring as they tend to become bitter later into the season. They can be eaten raw in salads or cooked like a spinach. The roots are sweet when boiled like potatoes, and blossoms are a mildly sweet addition to salads. The seeds can be roasted and used in breads or as a pepper substitute or ground and used as you would flax seeds. It was considered a staple food source for Native Americans.

Evening primrose prefers dry sandy soil  lacking in nitrogen. It has been naturalized throughout mid and eastern North America, here in Nova Scotia it can be found growing on most roadsides. As it's name suggests it is a biennial plant with blossoms that open during the evening and overnight. As night blooming plants are few and far between, many cultivars have been developed for gardeners. If you are planting for medicinal use be sure to purchase the Oenothera biennis, variety as it contains the most medicinal properties.

Growing between 2 and 5 feet tall, it has a strong reddish stem covered in soft hairs. The lanced leaves measure 3 to 6 inches and have a lemon like scent when lightly bruised. The plants are prolific bloomers in their second year, blooming from June through September.

While growing evening primrose to make EPoil is not practical for home gardeners, the medicinal uses of the entire plant certainly are worth growing or foraging this beautiful plant. If you are fond of spending long summer evenings in your garden, the sweetly scented blooms alone are worth having this plant in your garden.

As always, the information presented here is not intended to diagnose or treat any conditions. Please seek the advice of a medical practitioner for specific medical concerns.

Hey everybody
The computer is finally working and it is time to take a look at our garden soil and decide what it needs for next year to keep producing a bounty of healthy food for us.

Fall is my preferred time to add soil amendments, it means that you have several months for the bacteria and microbes to work on and integrate into the amendments. The worms and other beneficial life forms can colonize the "new soil" and by the time planting season comes around again your amendments should be fully integrated into the soil.

So what is a soil amendment? The most basic definition of a soil amendment is any material which is added to soil to alter the structure and pH of the existing conditions. When you ask gardeners why they amend their soil and they will most often talk about altering the way water moves through their soil and increasing the nutrient availability of soil.

Before you can look at amendments you need to know the mineral composition of your soil and the pH value of your soil. You can see the posts on how to check the mineral composition of your soil here and here. Soil pH testing kits are available at most stores that sell gardening supplies or you can order online.

There are some amendments that are good for all soil types, specifically compost and organic matter. These are not interchangeable terms. The easiest way to describe the difference is all compost is organic matter, but not all organic matter is compost.

We get a lot of questions about adding compost and organic matter, most of these regard timing. There is never a bad time to add compost to your soil, but it is easiest to do so in the spring and fall. Generally because there are not a lot of plants in your way and you can work it into the soil. Space is another consideration. If you have a large area for your compost pile(s), then you can start a fresh pile of compost from all the material you take out of the garden in the fall. If your space is limited, you may have to spread your finished compost before you can start a new pile.

When discussing adding organic matter it gets a little trickier. If you want to add organic matter straight to your garden, the most important thing you need to remember is this: as organic matter decomposes it ties up nitrogen. The more fibrous the organic matter is the more nitrogen it ties up and the longer it takes to decompose. This is not a big deal if you are adding leaves to your garden in the fall. In most cases they will completely decompose before spring. If you chose to chop and drop your garden remnants, tougher, more fibrous material such as corn stalks may not decompose before spring. Never add un-composted organic matter during the growing season, it will tie up your available nitrogen and your plants will suffer.

Full disclosure here, we do not have a "compost pile". Everything from food scraps of all kinds, wasted hay yard waste and garden trimmings goes through the pigs. Yep, if they don't eat it the trample it in their bedding and it ends up in the manure pile. Our compost comes from the manure piles.

So, what to do if you aren't fortunate to have beautiful black rich loam soil? Depends on what you do have. The two things you don't want to do are try for a quick fix with chemical fertilizers and buy "top soil". The only time I would recommend purchasing topsoil is if you have a home in a newer subdivision. Current practices allow for the rape, pillaging and sale of any nutrient rich fertile soil from these sites before construction begins. You are essentially left with dead subsoil. It would take you years to try and build any kind of decent topsoil. Just do your research and find locally sourced top soil.

If your testing shows you have heavy clay soil, your priorities are going to be adding nutrient rich organic matter to increase the fertility. Something to increase drainage and a way to bulk up the soil thereby increasing aeration.

The best candidates for clay soil amendments are compost, and lots of organic material. Most people will tell you if you have clay soil you need to add sand, My short answer is don't. To alter the drainage of a clay soil with sand, you would have to add half, 50% of the current volume of soil to make an effective soil. This quickly gets expensive. Adding less will give you a soil where the larger pore spaces of the sand are filled in by the smaller clay particles, resulting in a denser, heavier more easily compacted soil that still won't drain!
 
The best thing you can do for your heavy clay soil is to add organic matter that will open the structure of the soil improving drainage and increasing the amount of life in your soil. Wood chips or shavings are very effective. Get in the habit of using these as mulch, and using either on the paths in your garden is a great way to incorporate them into the soil.

Clay soils respond well to green manure, but remember the nitrogen issues. Heavy clay is also an excellent candidate for bio char applications. Ground bark is also an effective amendment for this soil.

Sandy soils  are as difficult to deal with as clay. When looking at amendments for sandy soil your objectives are increasing nutrient, slowing down the flow of water through the soil and adding organic matter to increase the amount of soil micro organisms and bacteria.

Compost is still the best way to add available nutrients to the soil. It packs a powerful punch of nutrient that is available to your plants from day 1. Peat moss is my preferred additive for quickly increasing the absorption rate of sandy soils. It is quite acidic so you need to monitor your pH levels carefully . For the long term, adding organic matter is the best way to increased the absorption rate of sandy soils. By adding organic matter, you increase the amount of microorganisms and bacteria which feed on the decaying matter. The excretions and ultimately the decomposing bodies of these organisms combine to form humus, and humus is the 'glue' that holds soil together. So ground bark, and wood chips are again excellent forms of organic matter to add to sandy soils.

A note about ph. Generally, most vegetables prefer a pH that is slightly acidic to neutral. In the range of 5.5 to 7. A comprehensive list can be found here. If you soil is too acidic, the best amendment to sweeten the soil is still ground lime. It is available almost everywhere that sells nursery supplies. It is relatively inexpensive and usually contains clear directions for application rates. If your soil tests out in the alkaline range you will need to add a compound to sour it a little. Gypsum or ground sulfur are the usual candidates. It has been my experience that the availability of these vary from region to region, but one or the other is usually available locally. Again follow directions for application rates.

Hopefully I haven't given you information overload with this topic. Soil building is not going to happen over a single season. It takes time and patience, not my strongest trait. At first it will seem that everything you are doing hasn't made any difference and then one day, you will be out digging in the garden and it will strike you that you have the beautiful, rich black soil you have longed for. so the sooner you start, the sooner you will get there; test your soil composition, know where you need to make changes and get started. This is where your food is coming from..... you need to make it the healthiest it can be!

Have a great day everyone.

Hey Everybody, today we are going to make elderberry syrup. Elderberry, Sambucus nigra, has a rich history as a treatment for colds and flu and with the first cold of the season having already arrived here at the homestead I thought I would share my recipe for elderberry syrup with you.
Make sure of your source for elderberries, there are multiple varieties of elders and where you live can determine the varieties you will find when wild crafting. The leaves stems and uncooked berries of all elders are poisonous. When you are removing berries from the stems try to keep it as clean as possible. The leaves and stems contain cyanoglycosides and will become concentrated if left in with the berries during the reduction phase. The good news is you can buy  the Sambucus nigra, European Elder at most good nurseries.

To make the syrup you will need:
1 cup of fresh elderberries, (or 1/2 cup of dried)
3 cups of water
1 cup of unpasteurized honey, the more local the better.

Step 1:

Put your elderberries and water in a heavy based pot and bring to a boil. The colour will change to a purple raspberry hue.

Step 2:
Reduce the heat and simmer, until volume is reduced by half

Step 3:
When mixture is reduced by half, mash with a potato masher to break up the berries

Step 4:
Strain through a mesh screen or a double layer of cheesecloth.

Step 5:
When mixture cools to warm, add in 1 cup of unpasteurized honey, stir thoroughly

Step 6:
When cooled, pour into a bottle or jar, label and store in the fridge.

This will keep in the  fridge  for approximately three months. I made the one batch after we harvested our berries last week; but I know I will need more during the winter, so I put 1 cup of berries in each of five plastic bags and put them in the freezer so I can make up batches of syrup when needed.

Elderberry syrup works on the immune system in much the same way echinacea and cranberry do, so it is important to start taking it at the first sign of illness.

Dosage:

Children: 1- 3 teaspoons every three hours.
Adults: 1- 3 Tablespoons every three hours

Note: For children under 2, add the syrup to hot water. This will to kill off anything in the honey that might make them sick.
Have a great day every one!

Hey Everybody, well it has been another crazy week here at the homestead! The push is on to get everything done as we feel fall closing in. It really is a weird September, we have had frost for the past two nights now, we were lucky to escape the snowfall they had out west,  but the cold mornings are a hurry up and get it done kick in the pants; and the forecast for tomorrow is calling for close to 2 inches of rain.

 The guys have been busy getting the garden ready, they have moved close to half a ton of rock, by hand, away from the new garden. There was an old  foundation smack dab in the middle of where the garden needs to be, the pigs did  a great job of rooting up the rocks so they were close to the surface. KillWilly in particular loves tossing rocks around. The lower bed is leveled and Gary will be taking the rototiller, aka the beast, in there within a day or two to incorporate the manure from the pig yard. Then we will be planting garlic next week. We haven't received the Siberian variety I ordered from Vesseys yet, but it should be here soon and we have our own saved seed to plant. I was hoping to be able to plant a covered crop of buckwheat in the garden that we could till under come spring, but with  the cooler weather coming early I think we are going to end up just mulching heavily with old straw or hay. This is what the pasture looked like on May 20th of this year:

Then on Labour Day weekend after the pigs had been there for a few days:

Now today, the first terrace, closest to the camera, is leveled and just waiting for the manure to be worked in.

Speaking of the pigs, Patches has been bringing her latest litter out foraging
this week. They were born on the first, so she is keeping to the same schedule
she always has. They are starting to eat from the creep feeder, but had a great
time running around and pushing up dirt with their snouts! There is nothing that
is as hysterical to watch as a little piglet trying to catch a grasshopper. I
could watch them all day!

The doorframe for the new basement door arrived yesterday, so we should get that in next week. Then we can start closing up the basement at the back of the
house. That is going to make a huge difference in the amount of wood we burn
this winter, it is also going to make it easier to keep the basement at a steady
temperature for sprout production. After a year of experimenting Gari is producing well over 100 pounds of fodder a day and we want to double that for the winter! I have been busy putting together a guide to growing fodder, we are producing all this feed, winter and summer, on a set up which cost less than $150.00 to put in place. And it saves us somewhere around $300 a month in feed costs!  The animals love to get their fodder everyday.

The other preoccupation around here this week is getting ready for 4H Pro-show. This is the huge provincial show for all the top qualifiers for kids from 4H  clubs all over Nova Scotia, Reiley is showing both Ivan and Pepper next weekend. He was supposed to show both animals in conformation and showmanship but there was an overlap in the schedule so he had to choose between beef and goat for showmanship and has decided to show beef. So pepper will only be shown in conformation class. Reiley is also taking one of his wood working projects, and  will be competing in the beef and goat judging classes also. It is always a  crazy busy weekend with kids running on too much sugar and caffeine with too  little sleep, (barns open at 5:30 Saturday morning) and we wouldn't miss it for the world.

So, next week is garlic planting time, I may set up a couple of cold frames in the new garden and plant some greens just to give us a bit of an extended season. The tomatoes have all succumbed to late season blight so they
need to be hauled out and burnt, the heavy frost last night has finished most of
everything else off so a clean up in the garden is necessary. It is also time to
get the bees ready for winter. I will be opening up the hive and checking on the
amount of honey they have, insulating the unused portion of the hive and the
top. I am hoping to be able to remove those two plastic frames from the original
nuc which gave us such a headache in July. I don't anticipate harvesting any
more honey this fall. I would rather leave the honey there for winter stores
than have to start feeding them in March.  I am also going to be testing the soil in the new garden beds and  figuring out what amendments need to be done. It is easiest to do these in the fall and  I will  have a post next week about this topic.

 So the final full week of September, chores in the garden as we take most of the last of the harvest from the garden, there is still a lot of canning and preserves to put up, apples to can for applesauce and pie filling, pumpkin and some squash the rutabagas will need to be canned and I need to put up some more blueberry. On the herbal side I am drying sage, thyme and basil. I will be
potting up the cuttings I have for the herb "window" in the kitchen; rosemary,
basil and chives. The mint, lemon balm and othe tea ingredients are drying nicely. I will be attending the Christmas Craft Sale at the Digby Elementary School the last weekend in November. I will have a wide assortment of soaps and herbal products there as well as some of my silver wirework jewelry. Lots of fiddley things to get ready for a craft show.
I am also in charge of decorating the rental hall for Digby County 4H awards night on the 17th of October, (how do I get myself into these things?). I want to join the Exhibition Committee so the first meeting there is October 1st and I have just started working to try and resurrect the Digby Farmers Market for next year. On top of that Reiley needs to start schoolwork, There is painting to be done inside, the pantry and 1/2 bath to gut and build new, the regular 4h meeting schedule to start up again..... I think I need to lie down now.

I have always been uber organized, you have to be with five kids all going in different directions. This past year being here with just Gary and Reiley I have kind of let things slide, time to pull up my socks and get things running again. Honestly the busier I am, the more I can get done. Firstly I have to get the house running on it's schedule again. If you have a set schedule for your house, monthly meal plans, who cleans what and when; it frees up so much time. It was how I went back to school with four kids aged 4 - 10yrs. Not only went back to school full time, but  took a part time job as tutor and lab instructor in the nursing program, maintained a 3.95 GPA and kept the kids going to Girl Guides, gymnastics, karate, soccer and public school all while Gary was working 70+ hours a week and managed to meet the target of family meals at the table a minimum of 5 days a week. Yes I had a lot of support from Gary but the organization I had built into our routine made it possible. I have let it slide, time to get it back! Have a great day everybody! ( Remember to breathe!!)

For most of us it is relegated to a side dish for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, from a herbalists perspective it is a powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and possible cancer prevention tool. The American cranberry,
Vaccinium macrocarpon, is an evergreen shrub growing to 6 ft . It has small leathery leaves and can be found growing in bogs and wetlands from zones 3 through 7. The information in this article refers to American cranberry, not the various high bush cranberry, a vibernum, also known as crampbark, found in nurseries today.
  
Cranberry has traditionally been used as a treatment for urinary tract infections, (UTI). For many years it was believed that the high acidity of the cranberry lowered the pH of the urine thereby making the bladder a less hospital environment for the bacterium which causes UTI's. In recent years however, scientific studies have shown that the structure of the proanthocyanidins, (flavonoids), actually block the bacterium's ability to attach itself to the lining of the bladder. Researchers are now studying this evidence to see if it could prevent stomach ulcers in the same way.
 
Cranberry has been shown to be a powerful anti-inflammatory, specifically
acting upon the cardiovascular system and digestive tract. The phytonutrients in cranberry that are especially effective in lowering our risk of unwanted inflammation, and virtually all of the phytonutrient categories represented in cranberry are now known to play a role by blocking the cytokines which tell our bodies to start an inflammatory response against against a perceived threat. Dietary consumption of cranberry has also been shown to reduce the risk of chronic, unwanted inflammation in the stomach, large intestine and  blood vessel linings. Therefore, anyone with an auto immune disease should benefit from an increase in cranberries in their diet. This cytokine suppressing ability in
addition to high fibre content  means that a high dietary intake of cranberries
will help lower your risk of atherosclerosis, plaque build up within the vessels
and lower your 'bad' cholesterol levels.
 
Nutritionally, cranberries are high in manganese, vitamin C and E and fibre. A 1 cup measure of cranberries, approximately 100 grams, will supply your body with 18%  of your daily fibre intake requirements. . We are all familiar with the pictures of cranberries floating on the water as farmers flood the bogs containing the plants. For years this harvesting method was done simply for convenience, it is much easier to use a boom to gather floating berries than
it is to try and pick berries from plants in soft boggy ground. Recent studies
have shown that anthocyanin, the phytonutrients that give the berries their amazing red color, increases  in direct proportion to the amount of natural sunlight striking the berry. So having berries floating on top of the water will actually increase the concentration of anthocyanins, making this humble berry even better for you.
 
So look for ways to incorporate cranberries into your diet, cranberry sauce
is easy to make from scratch: 3 cups of cranberries, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of
sugar and a dash of lemon or lime juice. Boil until the cranberries 'pop'. This can be eaten fresh or canned in a waterbath canner for 15 minutes.
Cranberries make a wonderful addition to pork dishes ad well as some of the
stronger fish dishes. Try some dried cranberries instead of raisins in your
snack foods and baking. As I mentioned in my post from Tuesday, dried
cranberries mixed in chevre cheese with slivered almonds sprinkled
on top is a favourite dessert around here. Cranberries freeze really well, I
always buy pounds and pounds of cranberries when they go on sale after Christmas and store them in the freezer. If you are lucky enough to live near a cranberry grower, find out if they have public tours, they are harvesting now and it makes a great day out with the kids!
 

**Please note. I am not a doctor. This post is not intended to diagnose, treat
or cure any disease. The information presented here has not been verified by
Health Canada.**

It occurred to me today that while I have spoken often of parts of our plan for Hand-Forged Farm I have never really laid out the entire plan for you. Today you get the full vision!

We first and foremost are a working homestead / farm. We will continue to produce fresh healthy food for ourselves and the community. The structure for the market garden is being put in place this fall, so that we will begin selling produce starting in the spring of 2015. The first greenhouse will be completed late this fall. We will be offering a limited amount of CSA memberships next year and expanding as we bring the garden to full size the following year.

The garden also serves as a valuable teaching tool for those who want to learn the skills required to produce their own food. From WOOFER,s who stay for the season, or part of the season; to workshop participants who come for a weekend to learn a specific set of skills. There a few more plans that will revolve around the garden, but those details will need to wait for now.

The barn will grow also, to start with Gary wants to run 2 sows and a boar. We are on the hunt for a Tamworth gilt, he might also consider a Duroc. The pigs will continue to feed our family and local community. We will continue to sell weaner pigs but will also be raising more of our pork for sale. Gary is finally happy with the system he has worked out for growing sprouts as fodder and is now producing well over 100 lbs a day summer and winter. The animals are all doing very well on them and we are ready to expand. Keeping more pigs will also allow more hands on experience for those who want to work with pigs.

I want to build up the goat herd to six milking does, This will provide enough milk for our family's needs and my soap making. Again, the expansion will allow for more hands on workshops and teaching opportunities.

There are no concrete plans for cattle at the moment, but I have a feeling one or more of the boys may have plans in that area. This would be at least 3 years out right now.

Herbs are also an integral part of the plans. There is going to be a large herb garden which I will use for our medicinal herbs. I plan to use our homestead as a venue for herb walks and wellness retreats and workshops. We plan to bring in other teachers and leaders to give workshops; herbal weekends are a great place to start.

A new orchard of apples, pears, peaches and cherries is going to be planted next spring. Between the garden and the orchard, we will need a few more bee hives. I am planning at least 1 workshop next year for introductory beekeeping.

We have a food forest planned for an area close to the ridge line on the property, and I am working hard to bring a permaculture design course here in late next year or early the following year. Accommodations for WOOFERs round out the plans on the drawing board for now.

Whew!  When I write it all out it sounds almost impossible; but when I look back at what we have done in the past year I know we will bring it all together. It is what we have always wanted to do. We could just build up our property and become almost self sufficient, but we have always wanted to share our knowledge as well as learn from others. For us that is the only way to really become self sufficient... by being part of a self sufficient community.

Humans were not meant to function in isolation, a strong community of people with varying skills and abilities is the basis of any healthy society. We have, for the most part, lost sight of that fact. It is our intention to work with as many like minded people as possible to change that. The oft quoted "be the change you want to see", message is alive and well here at Hand - Forged Farm, and thank you for being along for the journey.

I'm back! I don't know what I picked up but it was a nasty little bug that
has made me more ill than I have been for a few years. It is still hanging
around, but I am able to function today. Thanks to everyone who sent emails and left comments, they made me smile! Now lets get back to work!

You know I love comfrey for it's amazing medicinal properties. I have comfrey salve, comfrey infused oil, dried comfrey and comfrey tea in my house at all times. I use it on myself, my children and my animals. I think comfrey has erroneously been labeled as dangerous by well intentioned people who are basing their decisions on fairly sketchy data.involving high quantities of comfrey and comfrey root taken internally. When I speak of comfrey being safe I am speaking of using it externally. There are times when comfrey works very  well internally but this should be done only under the  direct supervision of a naturalpath  or skilled herbalist. Unfortunately, comfrey has been labeled as dangerous in all forms and this frustrates me as there is little to no data that has proven the topical use of comfrey causes liver problems or cancer. 

Comfrey can be dangerous, it contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, they
will damage / destroy your liver. You would have to eat several pounds of
comfrey leaf or drink litres of comfrey tea everyday to reach the levels used in
the studies that are quoted when the powers that be decided to ban comfrey. Used topically and responsibly, comfrey is a valuable medicinal herb. If you want more information on this you may wish to read this article by herbalist
Henriette Kress

www.henriettes-herb.com/faqs/medi-2-15-comfrey.html,

Today I what to share the other uses of comfrey with you. Anyone
who has studied permaculture has heard this all before and hopefully is
utilizing comfrey to its absolute maximum on the homestead. Today I want to look at comfrey's role as a fertilizer, a soil aerator, nutrient buffer and livestock feed supplement. Lets get started!
 
First of all the basics, comfrey is a herbaceous perennial herb which originated in Europe. It is a large plant, over four feet if left untrimmed is not unusual in my garden. It has large rough, hairy leaves. The stems are also hairy and become tough and fibrous if they grow through the season without trimming. The plant is hardy from zone 4 to 9 and will go dormant during the cold weather. Comfrey has a large taproot which supports a large network of smaller roots. The plant will grow in full shade to almost full sun. In my personal experience it does best in dappled shade, but I have grown it in all conditions. Comfrey prefers a moist soil, but it  will make do with most conditions.
 
Comfrey is fast growing and I can usually have the first harvest of leaves in mid spring before my tulips have finished blooming. The last harvest will be well into October. These large leaves make excellent fertilizer. You can chop and drop the entire plant, cutting approximately 2 inches above the soil, or harvest the leaves and move them to the area you wish to fertilize. With it's large tap root, comfrey is a dynamic accumulator, pulling nutrients and minerals from deep in the soil and making them available through the top parts of the plant. To access this nutrient store you can use the  leaves and stems as simple mulch or they can be chopped in pieces and incorporated into the soil. Plant parts can also be soaked in water to make a liquid concentrate fertilizer. I like to take that first harvest of plant top in mid spring to make this concentrate. That way it is ready just when I want to start fertilizing the garden in early June.
 
To make this concentrate, harvest a quantity of plant top, leaves and or stems, roughly chop and place it in a water proof container. This can be a 5 gallon bucket or a 45 gallon barrel, depends upon how much you have and how much
you need. Place a weight on top of the plant material to keep it submerged, and cover with water. Place a lid or cover on top of your container and set it in
the sun for three or four or more weeks. Check on it after three to four weeks;
be prepared: IT STINKS!  I mean putrid something crawled in there and died
stinks. (don't say you weren't warned)  You will know it is done when it is a
dark, thick liquid. This is your liquid concentrate fertilizer. Mix this with
water at a ratio of 1:12 Twelve parts water to one part concentrate. Use
gloves, that smell likes to linger. This can be applied to plants as you would
any other liquid fertilizer.
 
Using comfrey as a soil aerator is very effective due to that substantive taproot but can be a tricky process. Tricky because comfrey propagates from root cuttings. Any piece of root left in the ground can grow into a new plant. If you choose to use comfrey in this manner, I recommend planting smaller plants and leaving them in place for only one season max. This is best used if there is an area you want to turn into garden but it is extremely compacted, the best example I can think of is a consult we did for a couple who needed to remediate a piece of land that had been used as a driveway by the former owner of the property. In that  particular case we recommended comfrey be left in place for two years. It did a remarkable job on that particular piece of land. They did have several plants appear over the first two seasons after the plants had been dug  up but they were easily removed as they started coming up.
 
When designing farms, especially small farms and homesteads, nutrient
runoff is always an issue. It has taken up a great deal of planning time here on
our own homestead as all of our gardens pastures and barns are uphill of the
house and well. Comfrey is in our plan to help with any possibility of runoff here This involves planting a double row of comfrey plants, on a slightly raised bed, on contour, below the barns. We have placed manure storage area on the other side of the property from the well, and any runoff from here will drain to the swale we put in this spring. By planting the double row of comfrey on the slightly raised bed we should be able to negate any nutrient contamination of our drinking water, and be able to return that nutrient back to the fertility cycle of the homestead by using the comfrey for fertilizer.
 
The final use of comfrey I want to talk about today is as an animal feed. Only feed the above ground parts of the plant. The PA's are in highest concentration in the roots.  Dried comfrey regularly tests out between 24 - 31% protein. This is higher than soybean and alfalfa. The leaves are also high in Vitamins A,C, and B12. Comfrey makes a high mineral, high protein low fibre feed: as
such it should be considered a feed supplement as opposed to a feed in itself.
Our rule of thumb here is no more than 10% of a total ration is to be
comfrey. The palatablity of comfrey varies from animal to animal. The pigs usually take to it the best, eating both fresh, wilted and dried plant. Chickens tend to only find it attractive when it is dry or near dry. Our goats are all over the map, some like it in any form, some won't touch it unless it is dried and offered in the middle of winter. I am a firm believer in the theory that animals have an intrinsic knowledge of what their bodies need and will actively seek it out;so the goats that only touch the dried comfrey in the winter makes absolute sense to me. There have been multiple studies related to feeding animals comfery. Most were  conducted in the UK, particularly during WWII and the decades after. A  particularly good book which looks at various uses of comfrey and  feeding comfrey to animals is:  Comfrey, Past  Present and Future by Lawrence D. Hills. I recommend it to anyone who really wants to utilise comfrey on their homestead.

So you can see there are numerous ways to make comfrey work for you on your homestead. I hope you will look at ways to utelise it in your system. Do some research, find your application. That is what homesteading is all about!
Have a great day everyone!

First off today I want to say a huge Thank You to everyone who responded to the request for feedback on the workshop question. We have had lots of feedback, some great ideas and now have a much clearer vision of what we will be doing next summer. We are determined to build a learning centre where anyone who wants to learn the skills to become more self reliant and self sufficient can come and learn. Each bit of feed back we get takes us closer to that centre, so again thank you!

Today is September first, most of us are watching the slow wind down of or gardens right now. Hopefully mother nature will give us all a nice slow wind down with no nasty hard frosts before their time. There is still a major harvest left though and it is probably the most vital, I am talking about the harvest of seeds for your garden next year.

Farmers and plant growers have been saving seed for as long as they have been growing plants. The number one reason most of us grow open pollinated heirloom varieties of vegetables is  because they taste like real food.  The second reason is because we can save our seeds.  At it's most basic seed saving is just waiting until the seeds are mature, harvesting or collecting, drying and storing them. What also comes from storing seeds is financial savings, empowerment, and a  more in depth knowledge of the plants you grow. All of which may lead to new found confidence and the joys of selective cross breeding different varieties.

Before we consider collecting seeds we need to look at a few things; first, is the plant annual, biennial or perennial.  We then need to determine if the plants are self pollinated or cross pollinated.

 Self pollinated plants are those which pollinate from flower to flower either from the same plant or different plants. There are male and female on the same plant, most often within the flower. These plants generally run true, which means that plants grown from seeds produced on these plants will exhibit the same characteristics as the parent plants.

 Cross pollinated plants are those plants which are pollinated from flower to flower from different plants. Certain plants within this category can cross pollinate with different varieties meaning that seeds from these plants don't always run true to the characteristics of the parent plant. This doesn't mean you shouldn't save seed from these plants, just that there are certain precautions you need to take. We will look at this more closely as we look at individual plant families.

So how to harvest seeds? The good news is that most plants will prepare the seeds for you. It's what they are programmed to do: grow, make seeds and distribute them. The hardest part is learning when the plants are ready to  distribute and intervene at that time. For most plants that requires little more than commonsense. 

For plants which wrap their seeds in or on fruit, the seeds are ready when the fruit is ripe. Think tomatoes or strawberries. In fact a little over ripe is best as slight fermentation will often destroy any bacterial or viral infections before the seed is released.

 For other plants which we usually eat the seed as food, the rule of thumb is to allow the seeds to stay on the plant until dry, think beans or peas.

Finally, most other plants we never see the seeds of. Think lettuce, beets or onions. These plants usually send up flower stalks which produce seed long after we would normally have harvested the plant for food..

 The final element of commonsense for seed saving is don't use any seed from diseased plants or plants which have been poor performers.

Let's look at some popular plants and seed saving tips for each.


 We'll start with the easy ones; self pollinating annuals. This group includes tomatoes, lettuce, peppers and beans. Any one who has a compost pile has had volunteer plants from most of these. Tomatoes seeds are mature when the tomatoes are ripe. If you let them stay on the vine until they are a little past ripe even better. All you need to do is cut open the tomato, scoop out the seeds and allow them to dry. If you want to give your tomato seeds the best start, you should allow the tomatoes to stay on the plant until the tomato is over ripe; when they are almost ready to fall of the vine, gather the tomatoes and place them in a closed container for three days. After three days, pull the fruit from the continue and place it in a screen colander. Use water to rinse the seeds from the pulp and then lay the seeds on a plate covered with paper towel or newspaper. If you have screen drying racks they are great for seeds.

For beans and peas leave them on the plant until the seed pods are dried out and you can hear the beans rattle inside. If you have a predator problem you can bring the entire plant inside to dry. Follow the same procedure as drying herbs.

If anyone has ever had lettuce bolt you have seen flower stalks for lettuce. Most lettuce varieties will produce a small yellow flower. This flowering is followed by seed. Lettuce seed is almost like miniature dandelion seeds. The seed will be either white or black depending upon the variety.  Once the flower stalk rises be sure to check the plant at least once a day as a light breeze will carry your tiny lettuce seeds away!


Peppers, both hot and sweet, are easy. Remove the core from the pepper  and
use a butter knife or your fingers to gently pry the seeds loose. Dry the seeds
and pace them in a paper bag to store.

 As I said, these plants are self pollinating plants so you should have few, if any surprises. One caveat, if you grow many varieties of tomatoes in close proximity you may get cross breed results.

 Cross pollinated annuals, including corn,  spinach, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers and the brassica family. Brassica include cabbage, Brussel  sprouts, kale, collard greens, broccoli, kholrabi and cauliflower to name a few.  All of these plants above will easily cross pollinate between varieties and the brassica will cross pollinate between each other. Therefore, if you have more than one variety, or more than one brassica blooming at the same time you should not trust that the seed will be true to the parent plants.

 If you want to save seed from these plants, you should take precautions to avoid cross pollination. This can be done by isolating the parent plants either geographically or by covering the female flowers before pollination and then manually pollinating them with selected pollen. The female flower will need to remain covered until fruit is set.

 Corn is a slightly different proposition; the rest of the plants in this category are pollinated by insects, usually bees and therefore the pollen grains are large, corn on the other hand is wind pollinated. The pollen grains are small. If you have corn growing with in a quarter mile of yours, it may be cross pollinated. Corns will cross pollinate between varieties, so if you have cow corn growing within a quarter mile of your sweet corn, seed saving may not be a great idea.

 A note about cucumbers,  we tend to take cucumbers before they are mature, leave cuke you want to harvest seeds from on the vine until they turn yellow or white. You can then ferment them as with the tomatoes, cut them lengthwise to harvest the seed. Place the seed in water to remove the pulp.  The heavier seed will sink to the bottom, this is the seed you want to keep. The lighter seed which floats, should be discarded.



I think that is enough for today, I know it is a lot of information to digest. I will look at saving seed from biennials and cloning on Wednesday. Hopefully, you will have a look at saving some seed from your self pollinating annuals. They are the easiest ones to deal with, when you are looking at planting rotations for next years garden, make sure to set aside an area for plants which require some buffer zone for pollinating.

Feel free to ask questions or leave your own seed saving stories in the comments. Have a great day everyone,!

As I said yesterday I have found that canning straight tomatoes is
the most versatile way I have found to preserve our  tomato harvest. These can
then be made into sauce, paste, puree or stewed.  I process these in the
pressure cooker as that is the safest way for me.

There are ways to process tomatoes in a water bath by adding lemon
juice or citric acid. Lemon juice can affect the taste while I have not found
that citric acid affects the taste. The decision is yours, by adding a mild acid to each jar, you can lower the pH enough to be sure your tomatoes are safe providing you follow the normal processing directions. However, as I said yesterday, we are trying to reduce our reliance on deep freezers, so things that I used to freeze, sauces, broth, and some meat is now being canned and for these you absolutely need a pressure canner. You are messing with botulism, it is odourless and tasteless and it can kill you. Enough said.

So preparing tomatoes for canning. There are as many ways to do
this as there people reading this. For my preserves I choose to simply use whole tomatoes. It is recommended to skin the tomatoes, now you can use a vegetable  peeler and try to peel your tomatoes, or you can freeze your whole tomatoes after cleaning them and cutting off any blemishes.

Freezing the tomatoes does two important things for you;  first it
will make the skins slip right off the fruit. Secondly and probably more
importantly it will remove, a large portion of the water in the tomato. This
allows you to use the glut of less meaty tomatoes, what my grandmother use to
call slicing tomatoes. The usual problem with using these tomatoes is that it
takes so much energy and time to boil off the water. Probably the best thing about freezing the tomatoes is that you can stockpile them until you have enough to make preserves with no loss in quality.

They are now very easy to peel, the skins just rub off. You can also remove the skins by blanching your tomatoes, dropping them in boiling water for approximately 15 seconds and then putting them in ice water.

If you want to remove the seeds you can put the pulp through a food mill at this stage. I don't remove the seeds, I eat the seeds when I eat fresh tomatoes so I don't worry about them in my canned tomatoes.

It takes a surprising amount of tomatoes to make tomato sauce. In my experience it takes approximately 5 1/2 pounds of tomatoes to make 1 litre of thin sauce, and closer to 7 lbs for a really thick sauce. My regular tomato preserves are the consistency of a thin sauce. Depending on what I am using it for I can reduce it some after I open.

Now that you have  lots of your peeled tomatoes, put them in your stock pot and bring to boil, add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of salt  for each pound of tomatoes you put in. This helps to really bring out the flavour. Once the tomatoes have reached boiling, turn down the heat and continue to simmer until the amount has been reduced by one third, (for thick sauce reduce by 1/2).

While the sauce is simmering, prepare your supplies as you would for any other canning project, sterilize the jars and lids. If you are using lemon juice or citric acid get these ready and prepare for water bath processing. The amount of lemon juice for 1 litre jars is 2 tablespoons, for 500ml jars is 1 tablespoon. If using citric acid, use 1/2 teaspoon for 1 litre and 1/4 teaspoon for 500 ml jars.

The pressure cooker.

Essentially a pressure cooker is a heavy pot with a lid that seals and a
valve that controls the steam pressure inside. It increases the pressure inside
the pot relative to the atmospheric pressure outside of the pot. For cooking
food, this decreases the amount of cooking time; for canning it increases the
temperature of the water and steam inside. In regular water bath canning the
water boils at 100 degrees C, no matter how much more heat you put under that pot the water will not get any hotter than 100 C, (212 F).
 A pressure cooker allows steam to build up inside the pot increasing the pressure and the temperature inside the pot. By just increasing the pressure to 15 psi, you will raise the temperature inside the pot to something close to 120 C, (250 F).  This is hot enough to kill any pathogens which are in your preserves. For cooking this means tenderising and cooking a 2 pound beef roast in less than an hour, and if you add beef broth and mushrooms you will be a pressure cooker convert.

 While features may vary from model to model, all modern pressure cookers
will have a lockable lid usually via a spring mechanism within the handle, a
sealing ring, a pressure regulator vent pipe and a safety release plate or
valve. Please read the manual that came with your cooker to become familiar with the model you have. The manual will also give you instructions for care and  maintenance of your cooker. It is important to inspect the seal and safety release valves or plates each time you use your cooker. For those of you who are somewhat intimidated by the idea of the pressure cooker, as I was, try setting up the cooker and just putting water in, bringing it up to temperature and then letting it sit. It will give you the confidence of  knowing it wont blow up, without all the hectic distraction of canning at the same time.

So that is pressure cookers 101. Somewhat intimidating but you just need to become familiar with them. Sort of like milking a goat for the first time, or operating a rototiller. Scary at first but we are all homesteaders here! We didn't choose to live this lifestyle because we hate learning new things. Now back to the tomatoes....

Once you have reduced your tomatoes to the level you desire, fill your jars and place the lids on, you do everything as you would for water bath canning, so do not over tighten the rings on the jars. Now you will have to put water in your cooker, the amount will vary depending on the size of your pressure cooker. Unlike a water bath you will not need enough water to cover your jars. In a pressure cooker it is the steam that does most of the heating. usually an inch to two inches of water is the recommended amount, but please check the directions that came with your cooker.

Place the jars into your cooker and lock the lid in place. turn on the heat and wait. Start timing once steam starts coming from the cooker, 10 - 15 minutes is the recommended time frame. Once the time is up, remove the cooker from the heat and leave it alone, do not try and remove the lid from a hot pressure cooker. Some models will have a pressure valve that allows you to manually vent pressure, if yours does you can release steam and then open.  Remove the jars and let them cool.

So that's it You have now made tomtao preserves... with a pressure cooker! These will safely keep for 2 years, but if your house is anything like mine they will dissapear long before that deadline. Try experimenting with different recipes, you will find sop many ways to utelise these tomatoes.

 As always I'm happy to answer any questions. Have a great day everyone.

Before I get into today's post I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on this week. As I mentioned last week this wee is exhibition time for us. Reiley is showing Pepper and Ivan tomorrow and Wednesday, I am judging crafts and sewing for the 4H on Wednesday. Thursday through Saturday I am barn manager at the 4H barn from 7am- 7pm. Posts will be sporadic. When I sat down to write the tomato preserves post I realized it was just too long to be one post so I've split it up in two parts. The real technical one will be tomorrow; How To Tuesday this week will be on canning tomatoes with the pressure cooker. Not scary, I promise!

It's that time of year again, all the stuff, well at least a large majority of it, that you planted is flooding you with an abundance of produce. You have given away vast amounts of it; your neighbours draw the curtains and lock the doors if they even SEE you picking more zucchini, what to do with it all? Hopefully you have remembered your local food bank, they love getting fresh produce!

There are some things that you just can't find at a supermarket, and at the top of that list is fresh vine ripened tomatoes. In my humble opinion, there is nothing that tastes as good as a tomato warm off the vine, and those tomato facsimiles sold in supermarkets are not worth taking home even if they gave them away.

Remember back to last February, the nasty cold wind blowing the snow around, if you were anywhere near Nova Scotia we were having a blizzard every Wednesday. Now imagine this coming February; sitting down to peruse one of the seed catalogs which has recently arrived in you mailbox, the wind is howling and its freezing outside, but you are sitting down to a lunch of fresh baked bread, some of your own chevre seasoned with basil and rosemary and a bowl of roasted tomatoes and thyme spread which you lovingly made and stored last August. Sound like a good way to spend a February afternoon? Well to get that February afternoon, you need to preserve your tomatoes now. Yep even though you think that you are sick of tomatoes and you really can't imagine ever wanting to eat another one! So let's get started.

There are three main ways to preserve tomatoes; freezing, canning and drying. You should utilize all three for the greatest variety of use during the coming winter. Freezing and drying are the easiest ways, canning tomatoes requires some experience, as tomatoes tend to be on the border when it comes to acidity levels. Remember last week when I talked about high acid and low acid foods? High acid foods can be canned safely in a water bath canning process, low acid content foods require a pressure cooker to safely preserve them.

I don't fool around with tomatoes, they are done in the pressure cooker. If this terrifies you don't worry, I think pressure cooker stories have become the rural version of an urban myth. Every family had an aunt or a friend of a grandmother who was injured in a pressure cooker explosion or a large dent in a ceiling that came from a launched pressure cooker lid. Some are true, but the truth is all modern pressure cookers are so absolutely safe that you would have to seriously tamper with one to even get it to explode. I promise I'll walk you through it.

There are four main products I make from our tomato harvest: salsa, tomato sauce, tomato paste and tomato soup. It used to be a guessing game of how much of each to make every year. However a couple of years ago I realized that I only needed to make canned tomatoes. I could then take the jar of tomatoes and make a sauce, soup,  or paste from my canned tomatoes. They also make a fabulous paella.

My favourite way to prepare tomatoes is to roast them and then freeze them. This makes a wonderful base for sauce, especially good on pizza, it also makes an amazing spread that works on crackers, or the afore mentioned fresh bread of a February afternoon. All things being equal, I would prepare all of our tomatoes this way. However we simply do not have the freezer space to do this, and with the planned switch over to off grid living I am trying to drastically cut our reliance on deep freezers. So this method is now reserved for about 30% of our harvest. This is a very simple recipe and you can use any variety of tomato, from meaty roma variety to those so sweet little cherry tomatoes, try putting a couple of different varieties together to get a mix of flavours.

Roasted Tomato 
Ingredients

As many ripe tomatoes as you have
Olive Oil
Garlic
Fresh Thyme or Rosemary (optional)
Salt & Pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F
Wash your tomatoes, pat dry and cut off any skin blemishes, Slice them in half,
even the little cherry ones.  Drizzle a moderate amount of olive oil in the bottom of your roasting pan and place the tomatoes cut side down in the pan. Don't be afraid to jam them in as they will shrink up in the oven. Peel and slice, or mince, your garlic. The amount will vary depending upon how much you like garlic and how many tomatoes you have. Sprinkle the garlic over the tomatoes, and drizzle more olive oil on top. To encourage the flavours to mix, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place in the middle rack of your pre-heated oven and bake for 45 minutes. Now sit back and wait for everyone to come asking what smells so good! (Think bruschetta).

After they are done rosting you simply need to let them cool, and then place in a freezer bag and put in the freezer.You can put in the oil if you want or just the tomatoes. I put in just the tomaotes, Gary has been known to add everything.  That's all. When you are ready to use them, simply thaw and they are ready to use. You can place them directly on bread for a sandwich,make fab pizzas and they go really well with both fish and lamb. They do wonderous things to soups! You can use them as they are or you can put them through a food processor, add any herbs you wish.

Hopefully you will give these a try, they are so easy and in the dark of winter will bring back the taste of summer.

Tomorrow we are going to make canned tomatoes with the pressure cooker. I know they are intimidating, but they really are the safest way to can pure tomatoes; and if you have any asperations of canning meats, stews, soups or vegetables they really are a necessity. Once you take the plunge you will be suprised how easy it really is. I was, and I let my pressure cooker sit in the cupboard for a full year before I attemped to use it!

If you put any whole tomatoes in the freezer last week, take them out tonight to thaw we can use them tomorrow. Have a great day everyone.